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In this article, Tessa will inform readers about a few women who made history.
WOmen's History Month
WOmen's History Month
Tessa Hager
Tessa Hager
March first is the start of Women’s History Month. This month is about celebrating and recognizing all the brave women who were the first to stand up against social injustice. For most of human history, women have been put down, ignored, and even seen as inhuman in some places. From being sent to jail for not giving up a seat on a bus, to fighting for women’s rights to vote, it is important to remember how long women have fought to come this far – and to have the strength and courage to fight further.
Rosa Louise McCauley Parks was born on Feb. 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. On Thurs., Dec. 1, 1955, 42-year-old Parks was on her way home from a long day of work at the Montgomery Fair department store via bus. During this time, segregation was prominent and lawful, so the front of the bus was reserved for White citizens, while the back of the bus was mainly for Black citizens. However, bus drivers had the authority to ask a black person to surrender their seat to make room for a white passenger. The Montgomery laws were contradictory, though. One said segregation was essential, but the other (widely ignored) law said that no one should be forced to give up their seat – regardless of race. During her ride, there were no seats in the designated “White” section for a White passenger who got on the bus. The bus driver ordered four Black passengers– including Parks– to stand and make a new row for the White passenger. While the three others obeyed, Parks refused. She wrote in her self-titled autobiography, “People always say that I didn’t give up my seat because I was tired, but that isn’t true. I was not tired physically… No, the only tired I was, was tired of giving in.” Parks was arrested for not giving up her seat. Word of her arrest spread quickly and the people of Montgomery boycotted the bus company.
English novelist Jane Austen was born on Dec. 16, 1775. She was the seventh of eight children in Hampshire, England. Austen read eagerly and started writing stories at age 12, completing a novella at age 14. She is best known for her books, some of her most notable works being: Pride and Prejudice, Emma, and Sense and Sensibility. Women in her time were expected to marry for wealth rather than having a career and marrying for love. A woman’s fortune was passed from their father to their husband, who controlled their money until death. It was common for marriages to be contracted for economic reasons rather than love, which is a common theme in Jane Austen’s novels. She had the chance to marry in 1795 to a man named Tom Lefroy after attending several parties with him. Austen liked him so much, in fact, that she wrote about him to her sister, Cassandra. However, in Jan. 1796, she wrote a letter to Cassandra, saying, “I rather expect to receive an offer from my friend in the course of the evening, I shall refuse him, however, unless he promises to give away his white Coat.” Nobody is quite sure if Jane was referring to an offer of marriage or just of a dance, but her biographers have speculated about it for years. In 1802, she got another chance when she was proposed to by Harris Bigg-Wither, a brother of her friends. She accepted his proposal, but the very next day she changed her mind and called off the engagement. Jane Austen is an icon in women’s history not only because she never married, but because she dared to live a life of her own at a time when women rarely lived for themselves.
Today, we do not question when we see women voting during elections. It is customary that everyone has the right to vote. However, it was not always this way. From 1814 until 1919, women had to fight for the right to vote. It all started when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott organized the first convention regarding women’s rights in Seneca Falls, New York. The 300 attendees signed the Declaration of Sentiments and Grievences, which Stanton modeled after the declaration of independence. Although the declaration of independence only mentions men, she wrote that both men and women should be created equal and have the same rights. Frances Gage led the National Women’s Rights Convention in Cleveland, Ohio and was asked if she was afraid that women will run into excesses, homes will be deserted, and men will lack wives. She responded with, “Society grants to every man in the United States, every free 'white male citizen,' ... the privilege of voting, and of being voted for; of being President of the United States; of sitting upon the bench; of filling the jury box, of going to Congress; ... and we don't believe women will get very far out of her place, if society should yield her the same rights.” Women’s rights conventions were held regularly.
Lucy Stone and her husband, Henry Brown Blackwell, founded the American Woman Suffrage Association to support the 15th Amendment for the Black men's vote, thinking that it would not pass if it included women. Traveling across the country, they asked each state to change its constitution. The goal was that, if enough states allowed women to vote, then the United States government would be forced to change as well. On Apr. 6, 1917, the United States entered World War I. Since so many men left to fight, women had to take over their roles in society. President Woodrow Wilson realized how important women were and started supporting women’s right to vote. Wilson proposed the 19th Amendment to Congress in 1918, requiring at least three-quarters of the states to ratify the amendment. In 1920, the 19th Amendment was ratified, and women in the United States finally had the freedom to vote.
Over the years, women have had to fight for many rights. From simply refusing to give up her seat on the bus and choosing to write books rather than just getting married to holding conventions to gain her right to vote, women have had to have strength, courage, and resilience for equality. While we have come a long way, we remember these women so we can continue fighting for justice.
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